Lakers batter Twins

The Kalispell Lakers started a little rusty from the batters box, then Michael O'Connell took the bat off his shoulder and that all changed.

The 17-year-old infielder roped a line drive to left field that scored two runs and put the Lakers ahead 5-4 in the fourth inning of Tuesday's Montana American Legion AA season opener against the neighboring Glacier Twins at Griffin Field.

O'Connell's shot spurred a five-run inning and the Lakers made good use of their new scoreboard in a 15-5 victory over the Twins that ended after eight innings.

O'Connell finished with four hits and five RBI, and Mario Venturini had five strikeouts in five innings and earned the win in a game peppered with early season errors.

"There was some sloppy play by us," Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said. "Early on our pitchers gave us some consistency with strikes though, and that let our batters get going. We definitely have room to improve."

The Twins lost a starter early when pitcher Kyle Knox, who had two strikeouts after the first three batters, went for an infield pop fly in the first inning and dislocated a finger in a crash with the catcher. Knox left the game and Trevor Miller filled in, and finished with seven strikeouts in six innings of work.

"That was a tough blow for us," Glacier first-year coach Bill Sapa said of Knox's injury.

The Twins jumped ahead early thanks to a two-run line drive to left-center by Wade Martinson in the second. The Lakers had four errors in the first two innings, which resulted in three unearned runs.

Then the Twin's problems started.

Glacier held a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning until two-straight errors put runners on base. After a pair of back-to-back walks loaded the bases, O'Connell came to bat with one out. In O'Connell's first two at- bats, he had gone down looking on strikeouts. Then, on a 1-2 pitch, he hit a shot that one-hopped to the left field fence that scored Venturini and Ben Sansaver. That capped the five-run inning that gave the Lakers the lead for good. Joe Pistorese and Greg Seaman scored on mishaps in the Glacier infielding that inning.

"We need to be more aggressive at the plate and not boot the ball around," Sapa said. "We just need to get better."

Pistorese came up with a leadoff triple in the seventh and finished the game for the Lakers from the mound by striking out the side in the eighth.

The Lakers won by the 10-run rule.

Glacier 130 010 00 - 5 5 7

Kalispell 200 502 33 - 15 9 3

Kyle Knox, Trevor Miller (1), Josh Schott (7), Jacob Rogers (8) and Devon Rocker. Mario Venturini, Matt O'Brian (5), Joe Pistorese (8) and Zach Brosten. WP - Venturini. LP - Miller.

GLACIER - Willie Roche 1-5, Brandon Prescott 1-3, Wade Martinson 2-4, Knox 0-0, Miller 0-0, Cody Elleck 0-1, David FauntLeRoy 0-1, Cody Hill 1-2, Jeff Streeter 0-3, Zach Mason 0-1, Chris King 0-4, Devon Rocker 0-3.

KALISPELL - Ben Sansaver 1-6, Dean Stimpson 0-1, Michael O'Connell 4-6, Brosten 0-4, O'Brian 3-5, Bryce Stacy 0-4, Greg Seaman 0-3, Pistorese 1-2, Venturini 0-3.

2B - O'Connell; 3B - Pistorese; RBI - Martinson 3; O'Connell 5, Sansaver, Brosten, O'Brian, Stacy